“You don’t want to ruin it with ads because ads aren’t cool. It’s like you’re throwing the greatest party on campus and someone saying it’s gotta be over by eleven.” — The Social Network
AdTrap is a piece of hardware which connects between your router and modem and acts as an online ad filter. No software. Nothing but a box. Simply plug it in and you have an ad free internet. The company is currently looking for $150,000 on Kickstarter, over half of which has already been pledged with over three weeks remaining.
Its skeptics question the product’s value: Will people pay $120 to have an ad-free internet? I don’t believe the regular consumer would, but enough early adopters will purchase this original edition to allow the company to produce more cost effectively, eventually dropping the price to $20-$30. Once affordable and accessible, say in one year’s time, it could become as ubiquitous as routers themselves, leaving several Silicon Valley big-shots knee deep in shit. Youtube and Facebook, for example, depend on advertisements to generate the bulk of their revenue. These companies will lose billions of dollars and could even shut down if they don’t quickly adapt. Which they won’t. And I hardly believe anyone in Silicon Valley will acquiesce as AdTrap cockblocks their bank accounts. Things are about to get very feisty… (I am officially open to any and all suggested conspiracy theories. My prediction is that these major companies pull a 180 on their stance regarding SOPA and PIPA bills so long as the “reformed” bill outlaws anything resembling the above product.)
Good or bad, this product has massive implications for the near future of the internet. Will ad-based businesses be able to sustain themselves? What will happen to news sites and small-time bloggers who also depend on advertisements for income? Will AdTrap bring balance back to the so called “dot-com bubble” (v2.0)?
I’m kind of hoping for chaos because all the gross Youtube ads make me feel trashy.
